Mega Man Eternity Cross
by Radiant Falcon
Summary: Mega Man and his brothers/brothers in arms are about to face time itself, with a little help from friends such as Strider Hiryu and Pulseman.
1. Chapter 1

_**I created this story off the top of my head, yet there are companies who would want to stifle the fans' creativity. Protect fanbased intellectual rights, the fair use doctrine, and the internet. Protect the Fans.**_

_**Radiant Falcon**_

_**Mega Man Eternity Cross**_

"_**No matter the circumstances behind the Mega Man franchise and the publisher behind it; no matter what happens to what was once one of the most beloved video game companies of all time; no matter what, there are always fans. Fans who've dedicated their lives to the blue bomber and his future brothers and brothers-in-arms. Fans like you. Fans like me. They can kill Mega Man, but what they cannot kill are the cherished memories we fans have. "**_

_**-Quoted from my review of Megaman Legends 3 (the fanfic)**_

**Let's get one thing straight. I love Mega Man. I also love that he's in the next Smash Bros. So that said, why haven't I made a Mega Man fic that does justice to the entire franchise? It's not for a lack of trying; I have written a bit of this stuff before, but it's not published. Maybe later.**

**This fic is about time. Time travel to be more exact. And since this is about time travel, let's get a few things straight: everything from the original game to the very end of Legends 1 is canonical, meaning Roll Caskett's still looking for her parents and Voulnutt never got shot to the moon. In addition, Mega Man Battle Network is an alternative timeline which will come into play later on. Finally, as you will see in this prologue, Strider Hiryu (you know him) and Pulseman (from the Mega Drive game of the same name) are major characters in this story. So yeah, it's kind of a crossover. **

It is the year 20XX. Normally, an intro such as that would elaborate on how different the future is from our current time, but in reality it's the same as every other time in history. People go about their daily lives caring too much about work or something, then a war comes along to remind everyone how good/bad life is before going back to the same old lifestyle of people caring too much about work or something. The only real difference between us and the denizens of the year 20XX are flying cars and androids.

Well, them and the Striders. The Striders, an international organization of pseudo-ninjas, have been around since the 1900s though;so really it's all about the generation you're talking about. These Striders aren't among the most highly trained paramilitary group; they _are _the most highly trained paramilitary group. Just one sub-C Class Strider could take on a whole team of any given country's Tier 1 Special Forces and win. Of course, Striders are human; they can die like any other one. It's just really really _really _hard to kill them. In fact, those who are able to kill one are already a part of the organization. One of the more notable Striders is Takeshi Hiryu, an orphan who was put through the program at an early age. His skill was second to none, eventually making it to the A-Class before the tragic death of his sister Maria.(1)

Then he retired from the Striders and lead a quiet life in China for a while, eventually telling a few stories to a visiting manga-ka group by the name of Moto Kikaku(2). And then Mei-oh, the ruler of a faraway planet, struck China, believing it to be the center of the world and thus the ruling capitol. It didn't work, probably because Mei-oh had never read up on Earth, (in actuality: Greenwich, England is the center of the world) but mostly because Hiryu made him and his fortress explode. The Striders shortly pulled him out of retirement, and now he's the younges Special-A Class Strider in the organization's history.

Of course, Hiryu was among the few Striders who have friends outside of the organization, and this is where the Light family comes in. The Striders know of Dr. Thomas X. Light and his various android creations (Rock Light, alias Mega Man, being among them), but Hiryu knew them personally. In fact, he was training Light's 'daughter' Roll in the Strider way. Naturally, androids such as Roll have power beyond normal humans, and he knew this. Androids aren't even supposed to harm humans or let humans come to harm through their inaction, lest they be shut down by the authorities(3); although, the government gave Dr. Light a bit of leeway with this. Their reasoning was thus: since Mega Man wasn't a criminal, nor were his siblings (the whole thing with Dark Man(4) doesn't count), the government decided to not subject them to the First Law(5)

And yet, Mega Man still didn't harm any human. It might have just been in his programming or something along those lines, but he just didn't have it in him to hurt a human. The same thing goes for both his older sibling Blues Light (alias Protoman; the first android), and his younger sibling Roll, although in Roll's case, being a Strider trainee, it was not necessarily required in her job description.

Incidentally, the Laws of Robotics do not apply to those who are only half-android. These human/android hybrids are known as Cyberanimated Lifeforms; C-Life, for short. These are not to be confused with cybernetic organisms (cyborgs), those with robot arms or legs or something (Captain Nathan "Rad" Spencer in the Bionic Commando(6) division of the Area 88(7) Defense Force is a good example, as he has a robot arm and can therefore be considered a cyborg) acting as prosthetics. Without going into specifics, C-Life hearts are mechanical, whereas cyborg hearts are organic.

There are two really good examples of C-Life. One is the superhero Pulseman, whose power comes from an electrical generator in his armor. The other example, and possibly the most well known, is Kalinka Cossack, daughter of robotic-engineer-cum-archaeologist Mikhail Cossack. She's just abnormally smart for a high school sophomore, and also bears a Boston accent, despite hailing from Moscow, Russia. They're also the only examples of C-Life on humans in 20XX.

I say 'in 20XX' because in the future, say around 21XX, C-Life is far more common, though it's still not preferable to staying human. It won't be until much farther in the future that C-Life would be commonplace amongst humans and androids. If you go that far, you'll hardly see any androids anyway. This is partly because of the depletion of the necessary power sources(8), but mostly due to the influence and meddling of the Time Masters. Ever read the Discworld novel Thief of Time? How about Night Watch? Time Masters pretty much are the History Monks from those novels, except most of them aren't monks. They're the protectors of the timeline. These guys make sure things happen -or don't happen- at the right time, though they don't like to intervene... much. They're sort of like the Striders in that they influence events, except that the Striders like to see to things happening personally. This causes a bit of conflict between the two, though normally they keep each other in check.

It's the Time Masters' job to make sure tomorrow happens. Obviously, this causes a bit of problems when time machines are used, such as the Time Skimmer, created by the Chronos Institute. This thing was used by premier mad scientist Dr. Albert Wily, so the Time Master Quincy Sairasu, alias Quint(9), was dispatched to take care of the situation. Posing as a reprogrammed alternate version of Mega Man and hiding in the ranks of Dr. Wily's Robot Masters, he searched for the Time Skimmer and fought his so-called 'double' in the process, losing badly. Naturally, though, he made sure Mega Man found the Time Skimmer and destroyed it.

Generally, though, things have been semi-normal, although things are never quite that simple. An anomaly has occurred within the chronoscopic frameworks(10), and things from future timelines are spilling out into 20XX. This is where our story begins...

* * *

**EYECATCH**

_**Super Arm Notes**_

**1) This is pretty much the story of the Strider Hiryu Manga, only released in Japan and supposedly the story of the NES game.**

**2) Moto Kikaku were the guys who created -in part- the character of Strider Hiryu**

**3) ever heard of the Isaac Asimov story ****I, Robot****? it's like that.**

**4) as seen in Mega Man 5, where Protoman was framed by Dark Man as the perpretrator of various robot-related crimes and even having his own Robot Masters**

**5) "A robot must never harm a human being"; the first of three laws of robotics that Asimov himself wrote, and have since been adopted into canon.**

**6) a Bionic Commando, in this story, is a cyborg in the Earth Defense division of the military. I really don't need to explain the reference here, do I?**

**7) Area 88, or UN Squadron in North America, is an awesome shoot-em-up from Capcom based on a manga that sadly isn't the best SHMUP in the world like ScrewAttack said it was. No, that would be Radiant Silvergun.**

**8) This is nothing like what happens on Earth at all. We've still got another thirty years left of oil, I'd wager.**

**9) Yes, this is the same Quint from Rockman World 2 (Mega Man II on the Game Boy), but with one difference: that stupid pogo stick is not involved.**

**10) a fancy word for time-space continuum**

**Character Spotlight **

**DRN-001 Rock Light**

"**Mega Man, the Blue Bomber"**

_Rock Light is an android whose alter-ego, Mega Man, has been protecting Neo Tokyo for ten years, stopping the nefarious Dr. Albert Wily each and every time. His signature weapon, the Mega Buster, is a semi-automatic arm cannon with one-loop charge capability. He can also take the data of defeated robot masters, using that data as his special weapons. His traditional loadout includes Tornado Hold, Leaf Shield, Slash Claw and Astro Crush (which acts as a giga buster move), but he typically cannot charge special weapons for greater effects._

**MESSAGE FROM DOCTOR LIGHT**

**One of my beloved creations, Rock, and his brother-in-arms Syakuei Yoshiyama jump head-first into a brand new adventure. The first stop is my old laboratory in Japan; where Punk, created by my former colleague Albert Wily, had stole a file regarding weapon systems from the computer there.**

**?: "Well considering you and I are a team, it's kinda unavoidable. I'm more worried about what Punk took."**

**The next episode is entitled "Intro Stage". Stay tuned for further messages.**

**Until next time, folks: Protect the Fans. Stay Radiant.**


	2. Intro Stage

_**Radiant Falcon**_

_**Mega Man: Eternity Cross**_

_**ROCK UNIT OPENING: ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION ~ROCKMAN 8 OPENING~ - GANASIA**_

_**Frame: the Himalayas; 20XX; 6:30 GMT(1)**_

Morning shone over the Himalayas. The interesting thing about this rather tall range of mountains was its temporal configuration. There are all sorts of places with temporal configurations – hotspots, if you will - all over the world, much like tectonic plates. They're what the Time Masters, the protectors of time itself, refer to as Chronoscopic Framework Malfunction Locations.. These things are what mess up non-Time Master temporal equipment all the time. Even the Time Skimmer was not safe from this. This is one reason why it was supposed to be destroyed. The other reason was known only to the Time Masters themselves and Rock Light, alias Mega Man, whose last known location was somewhere on the archipelago of Japan.

The Time Masters used to have a base deep in the mountains, and a field agent was dispatched to remove all traces of the former base. That field agent wasn't particularly well known within the organization; a lackey of lackeys. Still, he had a job to do, so he might as well do it.

As he prepared to set a time-distortion field, which would make time stand still for everyone but him in the area, he noticed something strange... someone beat him to the base. Then he heard it, the humming of a Cypher plasma-sword. That was a telltale sign that its wielder, a Strider, was in the vicinity and about to strike. _Still, what kind of Strider wanted to kill a Time Master, _he thought, _Possibly a rogue one, because-_

He didn't get a chance to think any further, as something hard hit him on the head.

**STAGE 1: INTRO STAGE**

**READY**

_**Frame: Time Master Base, Antarctica; Outside Time.**_

The frozen continent of Antarctica had been colonized somewhat in 20XX due to the advent of robotics, but no one was in a hurry to actually live there. Which made it perfect for the Time Masters to set up a base there, in a place no one would get to in a few hundred years or so. The base itself was fairly advanced, as really, it would need to be, what with this being the future and all. Quincy "Quint" Sairasu personally chose the place just to keep an eye on his so-called 'twin', Mega Man. To the untrained eye, you'd think they were in fact twins; both Rock and Quint had the same height and similar hair style and length. But Rock's hair was solid brown, and Quint had white streaks in his. Mega Man's armor was traditionally blue, while Quint's was green. In short, they were very different.

Quint himself was sipping a mug of coffee(2) in the Control Room. As an android, Quint technically didn't need the coffee's caffeine content, but it was better than the standard energy pellets and at any rate it was his custom this early in the morning. Besides, this was Antarctica, a frozen wasteland if there ever was one, so the heat from the drink helped get rid of the chill, lest his internal workings freeze. Anyway, the Control Room was the main hub of all things the Time Masters had to deal with, from the War Against Destiny(3) to the Wily Wars to the Elf Wars and beyond. Right now, the screen in which the feed from all the different Chronoscopic Frames would be displayed was blank, possibly because there wasn't a whole lot going on.

Then the door to the Control Room slid open. Quint turned around and said "What's up?" to which the door-opener (another lackey) said "We've got trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"We just lost the signal from Tibet in 20XX, sir."

Quint was afraid of that. Putting a guy so high up the mountain wasn't a smart idea to begin with(4). Then he heard a ring-a-ling from the monitors. "Patch it through." he ordered the lackey.

"On it, sir."

The screens were activated, and a communication feed was displayed through the far left monitor. "Time Masters... hah!" a man on the other side scoffed. This man was wearing a grey jumpsuit with a loose white utility belt. He had slicked back hair, and also a white muffler. "You lot need to get better equipped."

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Quint. Can I help you?"

"I care not for your name, Time Master. Know that time is no longer on your side!"

"Who are you, a Strider?"

The guy on the other end simply laughed, then explained "As if they could compare! I am stronger than each and every one of them! I am Hien!(5)" The communication feed blacked out just then. Quint, who wasn't the leader of the Time Masters but was rather the equivalent of a Lieutenant, said "You'd best call General(6)."

"Roger!"

_**Frame: Taiyo High School(7) Campus, Japan; 20XX; 15:35 GMT**_

Rock Light, the famous android also known as Mega Man, does not attend school, however he knows someone who does. That someone was Syakuei(8) Yoshiyama, son of Yuichiro(9) Yoshiyama, an AI researcher and creator of the Network Navigator(10). Syakuei, one of the two C-Life hybrids in the world and better known by his alter-ego Pulseman, was a Second Year student (a tenth grader, to put that in American terms), and just so happened to be Rock's best friend. As the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, an android wearing a yellow tank top and black shorts(11) met up with a young man with black hair with a red cowlick sticking out, and who wore a shirt bearing the logo of the Mark of the Millennium tournaments(12), a tan jacket with red trim, grey pants, and a red watch. These two were, obviously, Rock and Syakuei.

"How was school, Sya-kun(13)?", Rock asked his friend, to which said friend responded "Rock, you and I both know that you're American(14), not Japanese."

"But this _is _Japan."

A conversation ensued, during which time it transpired that Syakuei hadn't quite kept up with math(15). "You really need to pull it together, Sya-kun."

"Yeah, I know. I've been trying to cover with As in my other classes. Math never was my best subject, you know."

"You should get tutoring done or something, Sya-kun."

Which is what Rock was going to say, if his aural unit didn't start ringing. "You've reached Rock Light. How may I help you?" Rock questioned."uh huh... we're on our way."

"Was that Dr. Light?"

"No, it was Kula. Trouble at the lab."

Rock then teleported out of campus, leaving Syakuei to wonder, "Who's Kula?"

One catchphrase and a short transforming sequence later, Syakuei was clad in orange-and-white armor, a black bodysuit, white gloves and boots, and a helmet with a white spike extending outwards, complete with a translucent orange visor over his eyes. This was the electrical warrior Pulseman, and as soon as he appeared, he was gone.

_**Frame: Light Labs, Japan; ten seconds later**_

Dr. Thomas Light, _the _foremost scientist in the advancement of robotics, had two properties. One was a house in America where he lived, the other was a laboratory where his creations lived. The problem with having so many robots, each fulfilling a different task (or to put it another way, their elements) was that one of them was bound to blow up thanks to another. Fortunately, this wasn't the case with Dr. Light, as a lot of his robots actually live elsewhere. Kula Light(16), also called Ice Man, and Hakan Light(17), otherwise known as Oil Man, were two exceptions. They were doing guard duty, protecting Dr. Light's best-kept robotic secrets from those who would use them against him. Next thing they knew, both Ice Man and Oil Man were on the floor, being stood over by a red heavy-armored android with spikes all over his armor. This was one of Dr. Wily's robots,Punk.

"I expected more from you two. Prepare to..."

That was all he could get out before an energy shot hit Punk square in the chest, staggering him for a few seconds, followed by a wisecrack remark. That remark was "Oh, it's just Punk. Didn't I kill you once?" and it was said by none other than Mega Man, getting here in time as usual. Pulseman arrived behind him, and asked "You know this joker?"

"He's one of four androids Wily created just to kill me."

"Well, ain't that just peachy. I can see he failed."

Punk, obviously nonplussed by Pulseman's words, asked "I didn't know Mega Man had to call in for backup. What do they call you; 'Battle Kid'(18)?"

"Pulseman, actually. I control electrical pulses." and to prove it, he stuck his hand outward, firing a bolt of electrical energy at Punk. Punk, who was not necessarily built for evasion, took it like a man. "Hmph, not bad for a sidekick. However, I don't have time to play with you two. I already got what I came for.", he boasted. "So long, suckers!" With that, Punk teleported away, leaving the non-humans behind.

_**Frame: Light Labs, Japan; one minute later**_

"Can you believe the nerve of that guy? He called me a sidekick!" Pulseman, who by this time had his helmet off revealing his natural black hair with a single long red cowlick, was irate at Punk, obviously. "Well considering you and I are a team, it's kinda unavoidable. I'm more worried about what Punk took." Mega Man also had his helmet off, and was searching through Dr. Light's data files for anything out of the ordinary. "Ah, here we go."

"What, did he take something important?"

"I'm still looking, but so far no."

Rock and Syakuei were puzzled at this development. And then, Syakuei remembered a weapon his father was working on for a private military contractor before he was born. "wave cannons(19)..."

"come again?"

"Rock, see if there's anything in that file about a wave cannon."

"On it." It took him ten seconds to find the information. "Ah, the Yoshiyama Wave Cannon. I'm assuming that's your father in the picture?"

On the screen, there was a picture of a group of scientists and military engineers. Among the eggheads and hard hats was a man who couldn't have been older than twenty-five in the center holding a strange shoulder-mounted beam gun, whose hair was black and red. "That's dear old dad, alright."

"Why would Doctor Light have a picture of- ah, that's why."

"what?"

"This document's time-stamp is about fifteen years old, which would account for Mr. Yoshiyama's age, but more relevantly, that was back when the Sniper Joes were first being manufactured."

"I can't see what that has to do with my dad's Wave Cannon."

"I'm getting there. The original schematics for Sniper Joes called for a shoulder mounted weapon before the arm cannon was introduced(20), and I'm guessing this was the weapon they had in mind."

"Okay, so?"

"So let's say Wily is after the wave cannon and has the materials to build one. What then, Syakuei?"

"Well, I only know that the Wave cannon had charge and piercing capabilities, but it took time to build up and was therefore impractical for warfare, which is why the project was discontinued. But my dad said there were supposed to be more cannons in development with shorter charge time. I'm guessing Wily wants to upgrade the Robot Masters with wave cannons?"

"Sure seems like it. I'll contact my Robot Master informants(21), see what they know."

"Right, I've got some homework to do. I'll check back with you tomorrow."

**EYECATCH**

**Rolling Cutter Notes**

**For this story, Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT for short, is the real life way of simplifiying the time differences between countries, as GMT has no time differences. Most androids prefer a 24-hour GMT clock**

**When asked about his coffee habits, Quint had said "It's something I picked up from a fellow time master."**

**as in _19XX: The War Against Destiny_. In this story, it refers to the big standoff between the Area 88 Earth Corps and terrorists led by Matic.**

**You know, 'cause they'd fall. Or freeze, but we all know science doesn't apply to videogames.**

**Strider Hien, from _Strider 2_, is Hiryu's main rival and, envious of his success, tried to kill him on multiple occasions, each time failing hard. You'll see more of him in future chapters.**

**As in, General from the Repliforce. Yes, he died in _Mega Man X4_, but then again, so did the Maverick 8-bosses, with the possible exception of Magma Dragoon, who appears in X5 as well.**

**Taiyo High School, obviously a reference to _Rival Schools_. Whether or not those other schools from RS, or in fact if this is the exact same Taiyo High School from the game will just have to wait.**

**I'm making an asssumption, because the name Syakuei is stated in the _Pulseman_ attract intro, but I'm not sure if this refers to Pulseman's real name, or the given name of his dad Dr. Yoshiyama, who in the game turns evil. Sound familiar?**

**No, not the same Yuichiro from Battle Network. Remember, Battle Network is a separate timeline.**

**In this timeline, a Network Navigator is a stand-alone AI, and not necessarily an internet avatar as it is in Battle Network.**

**This is Rock's outfit from the beginning of _Mega Man 4_. As with the sister story Virtua Republic, I'll be using alternate and original outfits whenever I can.**

**The Capcom Vs. SNK tournaments will be referenced a lot from here on in.**

**In certain cases with Japanese characters, honorifics will be used; this particular honorific can mean a close friend or relative.**

**This has not been confirmed with accuracy.**

**I never was any good with math either.**

**Robot Master Bio #001: Ice Man, aka Kula Light. Despite what the name may imply (and Capcom's official canon says), Ice Man is actually a young girl robot with a cold stare, a warm heart, and a piercing Ice Slasher weapon. Likes: Ice Cream; Dislikes: Hot sauce. Named for Kula Diamond of KOF fame.**

**Robot Master Bio #002: Oil Man, aka Hakan Light. Based around what Dr. Light's idea of a Afro-turkish oil wrestler is, which explains the blackface. His weapon is Oil Slider, which can be used as a stand-alone weapon or inconjuction with a fire weapon. Likes: pro wrestling; dislikes: voodoo. Named for Hakan of _Super Street Fighter IV_.**

**If you pay attention to Did You Know Gaming, you'd know that Battle Kid was one of the working titles for _Rockman_. These days we know _Battle Kid_ as a badass homebrew NES title in its own right.**

**As in, the charged shot from _R-Type_, the game that invented the charge shot.**

**I made this up :)**

**Robot Master informants? You'll just have to read on to find out who Rock is talking about.**

**Character Spotlight**

**Syakuei Yoshiyama**

"**Pulseman, the Electrical Warrior"**

_Syakuei Yoshiyama; a 16 year old student at Taiyo High School and a 1__st__ generation cyber-animated life form (C-Life for short). His alter-ego, Pulseman, is equipped with a experimental hyper armor suit, allowing him to control electrical pulses. He has trained in Blanka-style Saikyo-ryuu, a martial art specializing in technical prowess (such as canceling a move to execute a different one) and speed over power. His movelist consists of the Pulse Slash and its Volt Arrow variant, which act as an electrically charged Tengu Blade, and can be canceled into Volteccer, a electrical roll that can ricochet off of walls and ceilings. Volt Tackle is that, except attacking horizontally and much more powerful, acting as a giga buster move. His suit can also learn new techniques as he defeats new opponents, but he does not have a dedicated Variable Weapons System._

**MESSAGE FROM STRIDER HEADMASTER MIYAMOTO**

**My famed student Hiryu has taken on a pupil of his own, and has took her on a mission to Tibet, where a rogue Strider has escaped to. They will encounter a former enemy of his and a mysterious android claiming to be a member of the Time Masters there.**

**?: "...is that you?"**

**The mission in question is called "Tibet or Bust". Your mission is to view it when it is released. Good luck.**

**That's it for this chapter; see you in a bit. Remember, Protect the Fans. Stay Radiant.**


	3. Tibet or Bust!

_**Radiant Falcon**_

* * *

_**Mega Man: Eternity Cross**_

_**ROLL UNIT OPENING: KAZE YO TSUTAETE ~Roll's Theme~ - Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom**_

_**Frame: Yesterday; Miyamoto Dojo, Okinawa; 20XX, 8:30 GMT**_

Special-A Class Strider Hiryu, one of the best of the already highly trained Striders in its over one hundred fifty years of history, was at his old teacher's dojo in Okinawa, having been summoned there three hours earlier. Hiryu had arrived there in a blue training _gi, _but he was not there to train. Hiryu's old teacher was also his current superior officer, Strider Headmaster Guanyu Miyamoto, known as the "Sleeping Dragon"(1) by his friends and enemies, and he had a mission to give Hiryu. "Do you remember when you were my student, Hiryu_?"_ the old man inquired in a surprisingly clear and healthy voice for his eighty-four years of age.

"I still am, Headmaster." the addressed one responded.

"Good answer. Yes, in some ways we can still learn from our masters, no matter how famed or fortunate we have become. You would do well to continue to remember it, so that you may teach it to the next generation."

Hiryu nodded. He himself had a student who could learn from the Headmaster's wisdom. "I will remember it."

"Good. Now, there was a man who I taught not long ago by the name of Hien. He had showed much promise and was next in line to receive the rank and weapons(2) of the A Class. However, when he had heard of you, my son, and how you reached Special-A Class in the time it took him to reach his rank, he acquired something else. Something much more dangerous than any weapon. Can you tell me what it is, Hiryu?"

"Pride?"

"Jealousy. He was envious of you. He went rogue three weeks ago, and although it is hard on my part to issue this directive, it is something I must do. You must terminate Hien." the Headmaster stroke his long beard(3) that he was famous for, and switched the topic. "On a lighter note, I understand that you now have a pupil of your own now."

"That's correct, Headmaster. Her name is Roll Light, Doctor Light's android daughter. She is showing great potential, though, she will not kill a human."

"Ah yes, the first law of robotics. A pain in the ass to our profession, if you will pardon my foul language. I understand that you and her have fought together before."

"Yes, in a number of tag-team circuits(4) around town."

"And do you trust her?"

Hiryu thought about this question for a moment, and responded, "As a Strider, I cannot trust anyone. However, as a man, I can trust her with my life."

"A good answer. You are ready for this mission. Do you accept?"

**STAGE 2: Tibet or Bust**

**READY**

_**Frame: Airport 1001(5), Japan; two hours later**_

"I've never flown on a plane before, Hiryu-sama(6). Is it scary?"

The young Roll Light, housekeeper and self-described 'part-time Dr. Wily kidnapping fodder'(7) android was about to board a plane bound for Tibet. She was wearing what she normally wore when out on the town, which was her red-and-white dress with black sleeves and large black buttons on the chest.(8) In addition, her blonde hair was long, bound in a ponytail by her favorite bright green ribbon, leaving some room for her bangs. Her red metal greaves – a dead giveaway that she was an android and not allowed on a plane without a human chaperone, preferably a creator or non-Wily roboticist, as dictated by the UEG(9), those damn bureaucrats, and even then on business trips- were concealed by long blue pants which reached down to her ankles. She had previously set off the metal detector at the airport(10), but her famous teacher had vouched for her. And as no one wanted to piss off a man who looked like a Bushin-ryuu ninja(11), complete with utility belt, no one was going to argue if she was allowed on or not. Besides, they _were_ going on business.

"Yeah, it's scary the first time you get on a civilian plane. The engines tend to be too loud for my tastes." the ninja, who used the name Takeshi Hiryu(12) when doing incognito missions such as this one, said. His calm demeanor was in contrast to what he felt inside, which was sadness and a little regret. The last time he was on a plane heading for a different country, his older sister Maria was doing a mission in Afghanistan. She died in that country, and he blamed himself for not going with her. That was ten years ago.(13) "Oh well, let's get on board. It's going to be a long trip."

_**Frame: Check-out concourse, Site 4(14), Hong Kong; seven hours later**_

A wise man once said that "no language on earth has ever produced the expression 'As pretty as an airport.'"(15) He was correct, but at least airline aesthetics have improved since the saying first originated. The check-out concourse was, at the Site 4 airport in Hong Kong at least, straightforward and easy to navigate, and the place at least looked good from a human standpoint. However, in this day and age; robots couldn't identify what was so great about it. Roll, whose original function was in housekeeping, was a bit different. As soon as she entered the airport, she was quoted as saying, "The color scheme in this place is terrible." Hiryu, who _was_ human, said "What makes you say that, Roll?"

"The walls are purple and the ceiling is black. Ordinarily not a bad combo, but in an airport?"

"I think it looks nice."

"There's litter everywhere, Hiryu-sama. If _I _was doing chores in this place, I'd shut down about 1/32 of the way there." Roll complained in typical teenage manner. "Or make Rock or Blues do it." she added with a smile and a bit of sibling mischief she picked up after a year of part-time 'captivity' by Dr. Wily's Robot Masters. Or as she liked to put it, 'babysitting.' "Who are we supposed to be looking for again?"

"A Chinese lady with fast and powerful kicks. Answers to the phrase 'Who is Grandmaster Gen?'."

"Chun-Li(16), perhaps?"

"Good guess, but no. A woman by the name of Ton Pooh(17). I fought her once, and... there she is."

Sitting to the right of some white-collar business men and their mechaniloids was a young lady with a chinese dress and long ash-blonde hair tied in both a bao and braids, reading a book. This was Ton Pooh, one of the daughters of Mei-oh, and the only one to survive Hiryu's assault on the alien and his base, which was called the Third Moon(18). Hiryu and Roll casually walked over there, not attracting attention to themselves. "Who is Grandmaster Gen?", Hiryu asked. The woman responded "An underworld Triad boss who died in battle years ago. They say that he mastered two styles of Kung Fu."(19) She then turned to Hiryu. "Welcome to China, Hiryu. I see you have a companion already. Is she your lover? Your daughter?"

"Student. Ton Pooh, this is Roll Light. She's training under me to become a Strider herself."

"I see. It is a pleasure and a privelige to be meeting one of the famous Light siblings. A word of advice, my child; don't ignore what this young fool tries to instill. At times, he can be quite... how do you say... off his rocker, but he seems to know what he is doing. Perhaps you two have need of my assistance?"

_**Frame: Advent Suites China - Room #573(20) China-Tibet border; 20:28 GMT that night**_

The Advent Suites chain of hotels was one of the few big four-star chains with amenities for both humans and androids. The fact that this particular Advent Hotel was on the China-Tibet border and had a great view of the Himalayas were icing on the cake. By the time the trio of Strider Hiryu, Ton Pooh and Roll got there, it was nearly twenty-thirty, or ten-thirty at night for those who preferred the twelve-hour AM/PM-style clock that Roll used, and after they checked in and got their room (which was a fairly trendy room with two beds, a cushiony chair, a desk, and other such furniture) Roll collapsed on one of the beds and went into recharge mode(21). On the outside balcony of the hotel room, Hiryu and Ton Pooh were chatting.

"She is a cute one, Hiryu, is she not?" Ton Pooh asked. "You are lucky indeed to have a young girl like that as your student. Children can be belligerent at times. I should know." Hiryu responded "She is, sometimes, but thank you. As for you, what's your motivation?"

Ton Pooh was taken aback. "I beg your pardon?"

"I killed your father, and I seem to recall you wanting revenge upon the Striders, and me in particular."

"I have sworn vengeance on many people and organizations for their crimes against the Grandmaster too; you may need to be more exact."

"For killing Mei-oh?"

"Attempting to overthrow the Grandmaster is the highest crime on my world. You should be lucky you destroyed him before he conquered this one."

"Well, fair enough, but that brings me back to my original question. Why help the Striders?"

"There is a saying on my home world, from a wise man who thought he could outwit my father. In Earthen tongue, it is translated as 'if you cannot overcome your enemy, become your enemy.'"

That made sense to Hiryu. There was a saying like that on Earth too. "So what happened to that wise man?" Hiryu asked, aware of what the answer might be. "I executed him." Ton Pooh explained with an evil grin. Hiryu was immediately sorry he asked.

"Well, I best... how you Earthlings say, catch some "Z"s. It is going to be a long day tomorrow. I will see you in the morning." Ton Pooh then went back inside and took the other bed. "Great. Guess I'll just sleep in the chair then.(22)" Hiryu muttered, and did so.

_**Frame: Advent Hotel China Lobby, China-Tibet Border, 7:37 GMT**_

Quincy Sairasu, alias SWN-002 Quint, was annoyed. First, his superior officer General Andore(23) sent him from Antarctica to Hong Kong incognito, then he had to hitch a ride on a hovertaxi to the Advent, which cost him the rest of the zenny(24) that he had on him, and even that got him two-thirds of the way there. And now that he was finally here after walking about seventeen miles, he had lost track where that rogue Hien had run off to. "General's not going to like this." he said. It was a good thing that his equipment took care of the energy problem, otherwise he would've had to recharge five miles ago.

Meanwhile, Strider Hiryu, his trainee Roll, and their guide Ton Pooh had just got off the elevator and were heading to the lobby, so that they would be on their way to the Strider Outpost in Tibet. "Hopefully they will have information on Hien,", Hiryu had explained to the girls. "If he still is in the country, that is."

"What will you do when you find him, Hiryu-sama?" Roll asked.

"If a Strider ever goes rogue, it is up to another Strider to terminate them."

"Terminate as in fire?"

"Terminate as in kill. Let me ask you a question. What if I were to go rogue right now?"

"I'd ask you 'what would it take to bring you back to the straight and narrow?'"

"A tempting answer, but no. You or another Strider would have to kill me then and there."

"But..."

"look at me, Roll."

Despite her sad expression, she looked into Hiryu's face. She saw a handsome face with a full head of brown hair and bright green eyes. She saw her teacher and best friend. "I am your friend now, but I may be your enemy sometime down the road. I know it's hard, believe me. I had to kill my best friend when she went rogue. It was one of the reasons I became disenchanted with the program and went into early retirement."(25)

Roll nearly had synthetic tears in her eyes. She could not believe that one day she would have to break the law and kill her teacher. It was at that point that Ton Pooh tried to cheer her up, "Child, on my world we have a saying. 'let your friendship bloom, and your rivalry prosper'. It means the same as your Earthen 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'. And at any rate, this fool is testing you, so you do not need to weep."

"He is?"

Hiryu rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Yeah, it was a test. You're not ready to face me in life-and-death battle yet anyway. Tell you what, last time I was in Tibet I found this rather awesome breakfast joint. We're heading there next."

"what about Hien?"

"He's human too, last I checked. He can't have gone far on an empty stomach, right, Ton?"

Ton Pooh was looking at a rather neurotic brown-with-white-streaks-haired man in a green hoodie and blue jeans causing trouble at the check-in counter. "Who is that over there? He does not look familiar. Perhaps he is an agent of Hien's?" She asked. "I doubt it. Hien would not cause this much trouble just to check in. This is a perfect opportunity for Roll to test her chops; you up for it, kid?" Hiryu explained, but Roll was ahead of him. She recognized him on sight.

"Quint? Is that you?"

Quint turned around and saw her. "Roll? wh... what are you doing here; you're supposed to be in Japan!"

"We were just about to check out and get some food, you coming?"

_**Frame: Locus Pocus Cafe, Tibet(26); an hour later.**_

"So you're with Hiryu, eh? I should've known that's why you're not at Skull Island(27)."

The quartet were eating breakfast at the Locus Pocus, the place Hiryu was speaking of. It served traditional Tibetian breakfast as well as more ordinary breakfast foods like french toast and whatnots, just with a Tibetian flavor you just couldn't get at an IHOP or something. Unlike her brother Rock -and by proxy, his 'twin' Quint- who merely acted human but who ran on solar energy, Roll had human-like systems(28), which explained her eyes welling up with tears just an hour earlier. So she, like the foreign and domestic humans at the booth, needed food. "So you are the Master from Outside Time" Ton Pooh presumed. Roll asked "Wait, the Master from Outside Time? Quint, is there something you're hiding?"

"Absolutely not. Roll, everything you know about me is wrong. My real name is Quincy Sairasu, but you can still call me Quint if you want. I'm what's called a Time Master. We fix malfunctions in the chronoscopic frameworks, or the time-space continuum to you."

"So you're not an SWN robot?"

"no."

Hiryu interjected, "I've heard Headmaster Miyamoto speak of Time Masters. You're saying that you are one of them?"

"Bingo. I'm looking for a man who took out one of our own. Said his name was Hien."

The table fell silent for a minute. Then Hiryu took out a picture from one of the pouches on his belt and laid it on the table; sliding it to Quint. "_This_ Hien?" The picture showed a man with slicked back hair, a grey training _gi_, and a white muffler. Quint pulled out his own picture of Hien, taken from the feed to the base in Antarctica. The two photos had the exact same person, just with different outfits. Roll was shocked. "It appears to match," Ton Pooh said. "Yup, that's our guy," Quint agreed. "he also said 'time is no longer on our side' and that he was 'stronger than each and every Strider'." Hiryu shook his head. "I doubt if the Striders who live here would like that. We're heading to their Outpost later. You coming?"

Quint thought a bit. Time Masters were supposed to steer clear of any outposts outside of their own, be they military or paramilitary, for fear that they may influence the timeline. Then again, General Andore gave him the directive to do what he thought was necessary. "Sure. Got room in your party for one more?"

**EYECATCH**

**Thunder Beam Notes**

**Actually, the true Sleeping Dragon is Zhuge Liang, the Shu tactician from the Three Kingdoms era in China. Guan Yu is called the "God of War". All those hours of Dynasty Warriors pays off here.**

**According to the Strider Hiryu manga, there are four ranks in the Strider hierarchy: C-Class, B-Class, A-Class, and Special-A Class. In this story, Hiryu and Headmaster Miyamoto are Special-A.**

**Much like the actual Guan Yu and his Dynasty Warriors counterpart, Guanyu Miyamoto has a ridiculously long beard.**

**If you ever played Marvel Vs Capcom 2...**

**This is the same Airport 1001 from Mega Man X, just 100 years in the past.**

**The Japanese honorific _-sama _refers to someone older than you who happens to be your superior. Technically it should be _-sensei _due to Hiryu being a teacher, but then I don't know much Japanese anyway.**

**This is a 'just for fun' thing that I thought would be hilarious, and that would explain her getting along with the Robot Masters.**

**Mega Man 8 costume here, though I'm sure she still has her Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom outfit somewhere.**

**The UEG, or United Earth Government, is exactly what it sounds like; a political body for all of the Earth countries. Like the UN, but with its own military, called the Area 88 Defense Force**

**This happens a lot with robots.**

**See, this is what happens when you have a Capcom-centric story like this; you start making allusions to other Capcom games, in this case Final Fight.**

**When Striders need to blend in, they use either an adopted name or their full name, depending on the Strider in question.**

**Obviously, that isn't necessarily the case in the manga, so I changed his backstory slightly. See note 25 for more information.**

**Like that old Atari arcade game Area 51: Site 4.**

**This is a quote from one of my favorite Douglas Adams books, The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, of which the first paragraph details how airports are ugly, some being very ugly.**

**See note 11, but in this case Roll had already knows Chun-Li by way of Mega Man, who met her during the events of _Street Fighter X Mega Man_, which isn't necessarily canon in the game timeline, but hell, it is in this story.**

**Ton Pooh was one of Hiryu's enemies in the Strider arcade games. She actually is the daughter of the game's main antagonist.**

**This is the final level in Strider 2**

**Street Fighter again, though Gen never was a Triad boss.**

**The trouble of having so many references in a story like this is you start refering to other companies' games. Last time it was R-Type, and now we're using Konami's favorite number, 573.**

**also known as sleep mode.**

**Another thing I thought would be funny, based on real life events.**

**Again with the Final Fight/Street Fighter references, but in this case Andore is the adopted name of General from X4. I think it fits, given how both Hugo Andore and General take a good portion of the screen in their respective games.**

**I'm not sure if you pay attention to Capcom games, but in the majority of them, Zenny is the accepted currency, similar to Final Fantasy's gil and Sonic's rings.**

**In the Strider Hiryu manga, Hiryu killed his sister when she went rogue, which resulted in his retirement. Does this foreshadow Hiryu going rogue? Probably not; I love the character too much.**

**I'm not sure if there is actually a place called Locus Pocus, and I definitely haven't been to Tibet, so I made this bit up. I would totally eat there, though.**

**Skull Island is the name of Wily's current base near Japan. It isn't really an island, but Wily has been known to make things up anyway.**

**In this story, Roll is sort of a test run for Mega Man X's internal systems; having been upgraded -I'm assuming- somewhere between Mega Man 10 and Mega Man 8(28a) to make her appear two-to-four years older.(28b)**

** (28a) The official timeline, last I checked, puts Mega Man 9 and 10 between 7 and 8; which I'm going to go with.**

** (28b) This is why you saw Rock and Roll age slightly between 7 and 8.**

**Character Spotlight**

**Takeshi Hiryu, Special-A Class Strider**

"**Strider Hiryu, the High-Tech Super Ninja"**

_Takeshi Hiryu, an orphan, was put through the Strider Organization's training program at a young age, and later became its best agent. Skilled in the arts of ninjitsu and swordplay, he is also an accomplished saboteur. Though he is typically serious, he has been known to lighten up every once in a while. His Cypher plasma-sword, Falchion, is a double edged blade that he wields like a tonfa, enabling immense speed, and can emit plasma to extend its reach. Although Hiryu is only human, his achievements stand among even Mega Man. His older sister, Maria Hiryu, was killed on a mission to Afghanistan, and he has never been able to forgive himself for letting her die._

**MESSAGE FROM DR. YUICHIRO YOSHIYAMA**

**My son Syakuei and his friend Rock discovered one of my old projects, the Wave Cannon. Seems like there's several interested parties returning to that old thing. Then Protoman shows up.**

**?: "Business? Never met her; she seems too serious.": **

**Next time; stage three, "Wave Cannon Blues" Keep this channel open, won't you?**

**Until next time: Protect the Fans. Stay Radiant.**


	4. Wave Cannon Blues

**Radiant Falcon**

* * *

**Mega Man Eternity Cross**

_**ROCK UNIT OPENING: ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION ~ROCKMAN 8 OPENING~ - GANASIA**_

_**Frame: Light Labs, Japan; 20XX; 15:45 GMT**_

"You've reached Skull Castle V(1), and they call me Napalm Man. Who are you?"

"This is Mega Man."

"Ah yes, Mega Man. We're expecting your sister, but she hasn't shown lately. Any idea where she is?"

"I think she's training with the Striders."

Rock Light, alias Mega Man, was contacting Jayne(2) Wily, also known as Napalm Man. Rock was aware of Roll's part-time job as 'captive-babysitter' for many of Doctor Albert Wily's robots spread out all over Japan, living in different Skull Castles. While some Robot Masters were still rather unfriendly to Mega Man(3), they tolerated and even enjoyed Roll's company. Others, like Napalm Man, held no grudge and in fact keep in touch as 'informants', as Rock referred to them. "Jayne, you collect weapons(4); what do you know about the Wave Cannon project?"

"I know a few things about it. What do you need to know?"

"I got a visit from Punk earlier, and he stole some Wave Cannon schematics. I need to know if Wily's interested in it or not."

Punk, serial number SWN-003, was not one of Napalm Man's friends, as he blew up half his second Weapons collection(5). "I wouldn't know, man. I don't keep in touch with Wily as much as I should." he answered. "I think you may need to talk to Pharoah Man in Wily Castle IV. He checks in every day practically."

"Thanks, Jayne."

"Anytime, Mega Man. Hey, when's the next Robot Tournament?"(6)

**STAGE 3: Wave Cannon Blues**

**READY**

_**Frame: The next day; Neo Tokyo Streets, Japan; 12:30 GMT**_

It was the weekend, so Syakuei Yoshiyama was on his way to Shibuya Terminal(7), where he was supposed to meet with his girlfriend Beatrice Shinomura. Beatrice, a seventeen-year-old cyborg who knew Syakuei ever since they were kids, had cybernetic limbs as a result of an accident ten years ago involving a drunk driver. Through losing her humanity, she lived to tell the tale. She was also the only one who knew that Syakuei was also Pulseman(8) and in fact acted as his 'voice in his head', which was a reason why they got together in the first place. Of course, while Beatrice wanted to go shopping for clothes, Syakuei reminded her how she's been collecting clothes ever since they were ten. They settled on going to a local pizza joint in Shibuya.

An interesting fact about the Yoshiyamas that a lot of people seem to forget is that, while his father Yuichiro and mother Haruka were human; Syakuei was a Cyber-animated Life form, or C-Life(9) for short. While this enabled a certain deal of superhuman abilities, this also came with a certain amount of responsibility. He couldn't use his electric attacks in public as long as he was Syakuei, for instance. What was that saying? "great power carries equal responsibilty"?(10) This was instilled on the parents, who were both scientists, and in turn they taught it to Syakuei. Meanwhile, his Jaguartooth(11) headset started ringing,

It should be noted from here on in that, although it is 20XX and flying cars and androids do exist, not a whole lot else has changed. For instance, humans and non-humans alike still use phones; but through Skynet(12), a recent development in global wireless area network, androids are able to communicate to phones from across the world. The only problem with Skynet was this: once installed into an cyborg or android's internal systems, you could not change them. Which is why, when Syakuei saw the the numbers 1987(13) flashing across the red-and-white watch he always wore, he knew exactly who it was. "what's up Rock?"

"I got in contact with a few people; You remember Jayne, right?"

"Napalm Man?"

"Yeah. He said that he didn't know if Wily wanted a Wave Cannon, but that Pharoah Man might."

"did you find out?"

On the other line of the comms feed, Rock had a distressed look on his face. "Yeah. Atem(14) told me that your suspicions were right. Wily is looking for those old schematics to upgrade the Robot Master weapons. He couldn't tell me any more than that."

"so what you're saying is..."

"We're in big trouble if Wily finds those schematics. You know how he wants to rule the world."

"should I call Beatrice and tell her I might not make it today?"

Rock had a better idea. "Why don't you bring her with you? I've always wanted to meet the one person besides me who knows about your alter-ego."

"done deal, man."

_**Frame: Light Labs, Japan, thirty minutes later**_

Beatrice Shinomura was Syakuei's schoolmate at Taiyo High School, though she was a grade over him. As far as anyone at Taiyo was concerned, she was human, though she did wear a bodysuit underneath her clothes to conceal the fact that she was a cyborg, due to her last school constantly bugging her about her cybernetics. Right now, however, she was wearing an orange-and-black puff-sleeved dress bearing a yellow X over her black bodysuit, a white sash securing said dress, and a red hairband keeping her long spiky black hair out of her eyes. She also tended to wear big white gloves on her hands and a pair of big glasses over her eyes(15); an added precaution against the so-called 'vultures and wolves'.

When she got to Light Labs just outside of Neo Tokyo; she and Syakuei, who at that point was wearing a T-shirt of the famous J-rock band Spinwake(16) and blue jeans, found Rock Light in armor sans helmet, standing near a powered-on screen "I wish someone would've told _me _it was casual day," Rock said to the two of them. Syakuei responded, "good to see you too. Rock, this is Beatrice. Rice-chan(17), Rock."

"Oh, so _you're _miss Shinomura. It's nice to meet you."

Beatrice giggled. "I'm honored to meet a living legend like yourself, Mega Man."

"Please; it's Rock to you. Any friend of Syakuei is a friend of mine. Just don't go telling everyone that Mega Man lives the Neo Tokyo area. I get enough fan mail and fan fiction(18) as it is."

Beatrice nodded. She was good at keeping secrets. And then the power in the room went out. Rock said about this development, "eugh. You couldn't tell, but there's like fifteen things breaking in this house, and without Roll, this place is a mess"

"Yeah, where is Roll, anyway?"

"She's with a Strider friend of ours, training out in the wilderness or something." Rock couldn't have known that Roll was actually out of the country and in Tibet heading to the Strider Outpost there. "Auto and Eddie live with Doctor Light back in America; Rush is in the living room; Tango is... somewhere around here; and Protoman is due to arrive in a minute."

"Who's Tango?"

"Protoman's cat. I swear, Doctor Light should've never installed a cloaking device in that damn cat; now we can never find her."

Syakuei was surprised. All this time he thought Tango was a male cat. More importantly, Beatrice was shocked that a cloaking device was installed in a cat anyway. "Rock, exactly how many cloaking devices are in the world?"

"Ten. Not counting the one in Tango. Why?"

"and your creator put one in a cat?"

"technically, it was for an adapter for Protoman so he could see without being seen. The actual tech side of it was built by Doctor Light, but it was Roll who designed it.(19) Anyway, the auxiliary generator should be on... now."

When the secondary generator turned on, they heard a five-note four-tone whistle in the Lab's intercom. "That's Protoman; he must be outside. I'll get it." Rock said, and left the room they were in to go get the door. Beatrice looked at Syakuei, who shrugged. When Rock came back, he was accompanied by a young man with a chestnut brown pompadour, who was wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt, black cargo pants, and a yellow scarf around his neck. He was bearing large visor-like sunglasses, but on top of his head instead of over his eyes. This was Blues Light; DRN-000 'Protoman', the forerunner for all androids. Syakuei covered up Beatrice's mouth with his hand before she could scream like a star-struck fan, which was answered by a muffled squeal anyway.

"Gentlemen." Blues said before noticing the star-stunned Beatrice. "And also lady." he continued, to which Beatrice sighed and collapsed. "Great, you made Rice-chan faint." Syakuei complained.

"She looked like she had stars in her eyes. I noticed they were also pure blue. Very pretty."

"If you're thinking on hitting on_ my _girlfriend..."

"Relax, Yoshi(20); Kalinka wouldn't be happy if I started seeing someone else."

Yoshi wasn't one of Syakuei's former nicknames. It actually belonged to his grandfather, Kyoshi Waruyama(21), who fought in The War Against Destiny as a Sinden(22) pilot. He felt proud of the nickname, though, but the fact that that same grandfather was in prison thanks to Pulseman stung the nickname's reputation. "Wait, you and Kalinka?(23)" Syakuei asked, eager to take his mind away from his Grandpa.

"Yeah; man, Kallie and I have been dating for a few years now. You know how women are."

Rock took this time to interject. "Blues; business;" he said to his brother, to which Blues said "Business? Never met her; she seems too serious."

"AHEM!"

"Alright, Rocky Horror(24), alright, don't go into Lecture mode(25) just yet; what is it?"

Rock asked "Have you heard of something called a Wave Cannon?"

"yeah, as a matter of fact, I have. Wasn't it that axed Sniper Joe weapon?"

"yeah."

"Does Wily want it?"

Rock shook his head. "I was about to ask you."

"Thanks for thinking of me, but I haven't a clue. I heard, though, that the project wasn't actually axed; right or wrong, Syakuei?"

The aforementioned teenager shrugged. "All I know is that the project was _supposed_ to be scrapped, but there were actually a couple more in Devving(26) phases before they ultimately ran out of funds. 's what my dad told me around three, maybe four years ago."

"Do those prototypes still exist?"

"I wouldn't know; I'd have to ask him. Hold on. And will someone please wake up Beatrice? Thank you."

_**Frame: Light Labs, Japan; three minutes later**_

"Yeah, I'm at Rock's house. Yeah, Beatrice is with me. No, we won't be a bother. Okay. Thanks. Love you."

Blues snickered at that phrase. "Dad said that those prototypes_ do_ exist somewhere in the world." Syakuei concluded. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to need to equip one."

Rock said, "Blues, you can't just modify your own weaponry just because you feel like it; you're obsolete(27), remember?"

"_officially_ obsolete, bro. And I make mods based on the times, and right now the times are changing."

'What do you mean by that, Blues?"

Blues dug into his pants pocket for a photograph. "Kids these days are using holograms and things like that, but me? I prefer good old film." he found the photo he was looking for, and laid it on a nearby table. "Doc Light's about to change the world."

**EYECATCH**

_**Fire Storm Notes**_

**Like Dr. Light's robots, Dr Wily's robots live in different places, in this case the nine Skull Castles throughout the world; one for every game Wily had his own creations. (Mega Man 4's robots were created by Dr. Cossack.)**

**Robot Master Bio #003: Jaynecob "Jayne" Wily, aka Napalm Man. A collector of weapons from around the world. His weapon is Napalm Bomb, which explodes after a set time. Named for the 'hero of Canton' Jayne Cobb from the cult TV show Firefly.**

**As you can probably guess, there's more of the haters than there are toleraters.**

**This is a real bit from Napalm Man's official biography, and the whole reason why he did that was to**

**...see what would happen if he blew it up!**

**The robot tournaments from _Mega Man 6_ are on an annual basis in this fic, and in fact there should be another one coming in the fic itself.**

**No, not _that_ Shibuya Terminal. Sheesh.**

**Every superhero alter-ego needs someone who knows about their secret identity. Batman has his butler Alfred (and in the films, Lucius Fox); and Pulseman has his girfriend Beatrice who was a real character in his game.**

**In the actual _Pulseman _Mega Drive game, C-Life refers to AI constructs with a human personality, for instance Beatrice is C-Life in that game. In this story, however, Cyber-animated Life forms are humans with android internal systems; most often the heart, lungs and brain.**

**Actually, the famous -and correct- version of this phrase is 'with great power comes great responsibility'; the Marvel fan in me would hate me forever if I got that wrong.**

**Yes, another _Street Fighter_ reference, this time from the Muay Thai kickboxer Adon; one of his moves is called Jaguar Tooth. It is also a reference to those newfangled Bluetooth devices.**

**Not to be confused with Skynet the malevolent OS that took over the world and wrought Judgment Day in the Terminator films, though the Skynet developers would've loved the irony.**

**1987 was the year when _Rockman_ – and by extension, _Mega Man_- was originally published.**

**Robot Master Bio #004: Atem Cossack, also known as Pharaoh Man. The only Cossack-built android to live in a Skull Castle, his Pharoah Shot is a two-loop(14a) charge shot that can pierce enemies on its second loop. Named for the true name of Yami Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! Fame**

**(14a) In most R-Type games after the first one, you can charge the gauge more than once, known as charge loops. Charging one gauge is one-loop, two gauges Is two-loop, and so on. It only makes sense that, in a story already referencing R-Type, I use its terminology.**

**I don't know about you, but I like girls with glasses.**

**Spinwake, the guys who sang that one "Don't Wanna Be" song for _Irregular Hunter X_. Don't bother trying to find any new songs from them; they've long since disbanded.**

**The Japanese honorific -chan refers to a loved one or younger sibling, basically the feminine version of -kun.**

**That's gotta be a first; Mega Man complaining about fanfiction in his own fanfiction.**

**I tend to take elements from different stories; in this case the Tango Adapter was borrowed from a good friend of mine and his discontinued sprite comic. Roll's involvement in it is that she designed the Tango Adapter like the Rush Adaptor from Mega Man 6, but with two big cosmetic differences; one is Tango's tail, and the other one you'll have to find out later.**

**Yoshi, like the _Super Mario_ character.**

**In _Pulseman, _Dr. Waruyama was actually the title character's father before going insane and turning evil. Here Waruyama is his grandfather, who went insane and turned evil soon after Syakuei first became Pulseman. Think of it like a Mega Man Eternity Cross Gaiden (Don't get your hopes up.)**

**The Sinden is one of the three playable planes from _19XX: The War Against Destiny._**

**Oh this should be fun when we get to the wintry landscape of Moscow, Russia.**

**Rocky Horror was a sibling teasing nickname taken from one of my all time favorite Mega Man fanfiction Time Trap, written waaay back in 2001. yes, like the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Shoto Man, if you're reading this, bring back Time Trap!**

**Lecture mode is what happens when Rock Light, originally a lab assistant for Doctor Light, starts to teach.**

**Devving, 20XX slang for Developing.**

**Protoman, according to the timeline, was the first android; since then more advanced androids have been made. More information in the Character Spotlight below; check it out.**

**Character Spotlight**

**Blues Light**

"**Protoman, the Red Raider"**

_Blues Light was the first (and only) android designed by both Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. After modifying himself to become a battle android seven years ago, in part to fight Mega Man, he has since joined the heroic side. Technically obsolete, Protoman has made a number of modifications to his own body to suit the times, among them a far more powerful Mega Buster variant known as the Protobuster. The Protobuster has a two-loop charge ability, the variable weapons system employed by his younger brother Mega Man, and a close-range blade capability. It is even more powerful when fire-based weapons are equipped. He is also equipped with an indestructible shield forged from Metoolic ore, which can deflect ranged shots. However, his most useful ability is that to scan opponents, determining their strengths and weaknesses, as well as weapon equipped and vitality. He is more of a tactician, however, studying enemy patterns and weak spots._

**MESSAGE FROM STRIDER HEADMASTER MIYAMOTO**

**Hiryu and his companions have arrived at the Strider Outpost in Tibet. His fellow Striders Kain and Sheena are waiting for them, but so too is a new enemy from the future.**

**?: "Where is my sister?"**

**The next mission's codename is "Colonel's Revenge". Terminate him!**

**Until we meet again, guys: Protect the Fans. Stay Radiant.**


End file.
